Tatuaje Havana VI Exclusivo: Zona Del Este, Verocu No. 2

Origin: Nicaragua
Length: 5 1/2"
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua

Appearance: This is one sturdy looking stick. Firm to the touch and very evenly packed. Thsis cigar was draped in a glistening rich mahogany wrapper. Oily and glowing, this was one of the better looking cigars of this size and shape I have seen.

Pre-Light: Before clipping I took a smell of the actual cigar. It smelled as rich as it looked, with an earthiness to it, and some smoky woodiness. The clip was easy with my trusty Credo Synchro. The Draw seemed a bit firm, but not enough to be a problem.


Burn/Draw: Toasting and lightning this cigar was easy, and nothing out of the ordinary. This cigar burned very, very slowly and surprisingly evenly considering the oiliness of the wrapper, which sometimes causes problems for me. The burn line meandered a bit but never strayed too far and always corrected itself eventually. The draw was initially on the tight side, not really troublesome but a bit more work than I generally like, and because of that there was a little less smoke than I usually like as well. That said it was never a problem, and the smoke that was produced was cool and very flavorful. The second half of the cigar opened up nicely and exploded in myriad flavors. The ash was light, and mottled, and very firm. It held as long as I wanted it to.

Flavors: I have to start off by saying that this cigar was unlike any other Tatuaje cigar I have had previously. That said, by no means is this incriminating to the cigar. As I mentioned before this cigar started with a slightly tight draw, but it was by no means low on flavor. It started off with very dry notes, leather and a twinge of peaty earthiness, but the part I most enjoyed, was this cigars woodiness. It was a very fragrant woodiness that I have detected in other cigars but not very often. It was like a fragrant autumn campfire, and I spent time languishing in the smell, letting the smoke pass slowly by my nose in an effort to enjoy it more. After about the halfway point the draw on the cigar really opened up and the flavors became more complex. The woody note was still there, but fell to the background and and combined with the peat and some spice that grew stronger toward the finish.

Overall like I said, this is not like any other Tatuaje cigar I have ever had. That said it was an amazing experience, and shows that one can use special edition cigars to help widen the breadth of flavor a line can show. Needless to say I say run out and try one (if you can find it) today. RECOMMENDED!

TomC